US 12,140,569 B2
Method and system for an ultrasonic detection of internal defects of a component, in particular for an aircraft
Philippe Emile, Toulouse (FR); and Marc Grimal, Toulouse (FR)
Assigned to AIRBUS OPERATIONS SAS, Toulouse (FR)
Filed by Airbus Operations SAS, Toulouse (FR)
Filed on May 25, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/824,097.
Claims priority of application No. 2105549 (FR), filed on May 27, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0381746 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. G01N 29/34 (2006.01); B64F 5/60 (2017.01)
CPC G01N 29/346 (2013.01) [B64F 5/60 (2017.01); G01N 2291/2694 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for an ultrasonic detection of internal defects of a component for an aircraft, the method comprising at least the following steps:
measuring, implemented by an ultrasonic measuring device, comprising carrying out measurements on a zone of interest of the component, the zone of interest being divided according to a gridding comprising elementary cells, the gridding comprising identical square-shaped cells whose sides have a length less than or equal to one tenth of an acceptance criterion, the acceptance criterion corresponding to a maximum size or length which is accepted for a defect of the component, the ultrasonic measuring device comprising a plurality of ultrasonic transmitters spaced from each other and a plurality of ultrasonic receivers spaced from each other,
the measuring step comprising successively carrying out, cell after cell, for each of the cells of the gridding, a plurality of successions of operations,
the successions of operations being implemented successively, ultrasonic transmitter after ultrasonic transmitter, from each of the ultrasonic transmitters of the ultrasonic measuring device,
each of the successions of operations comprising the following operations:
generating, by the ultrasonic transmitter in question, an ultrasonic signal which is sent into the component, and
measuring, by each of the ultrasonic receivers of the ultrasonic measuring device, an amplitude of the corresponding ultrasonic signal, reflected by the cell in question of the component;
computing, implemented by a computing unit, comprising computing, for each of the cells of the gridding, a sum of the amplitudes of all of the measurements carried out in the measuring step, for that cell, to obtain an overall amplitude for the cell;
processing, implemented by a processing part, comprising at least deducing from the overall amplitudes computed for all of the cells of the gridding a presence of one or more defects, and
wherein the processing step also comprises computing a length of a defect from a length between two cells most distant from each other among all of the cells for which the defect has been detected.